Welcome to the Richard DIckel Era

From what I witnessed tonight, either Forestville have certainly made the wrong choice in their new appointment, or Richard Dickel has a lot of work to do.

Firstly, as the clock is about to wind down in a 20 point loss to Forestville, the opposition team looks to hold the ball to let the clock run down. The Forestville defender tries to steal the ball of his opposition player and fouls him. So all the parents start jeering and booing during the free throws. Where do fully grown adaults get off bullying a 14 year old.

Then in a later game with 3.8 secopnds left on the clock a different Forestville coach who is up by 7 points and has the ball in his teams possesion decides to call time out. Quickly the crowd is aware that the margin needed to finish top is 5 pionts, but rather than just inbound the ball safely to secure the win which could have easily be done because the opponent wasnt even trying, they run a 'trick' play to rub salt into the wounds. The Eastern coach was quite rightly very disappointed in this behaviour of rubbing in the win.

I hope not, but could this be the kind of leadership that our newly appointed leader is instructing on the club. Is there any leadership left at Forestville or has that been thrown out the door when Dave Laurie was not re-appointed.

Forrestville current coaches have massive ego problems and are a disgrace to the sport. When will coaches from that club earn respect from other clubs.They continue to fulfill their own short comings by being a cancerous bunch which will only see them fail the club the kids and finally themselves. Implosion not far away.

To blame Richard Dickel for anything substantial when he's been on the job for 2 weeks is laughable. From encounters I've had with him he seems like a nice guy, and wouldn't have been considered for the job if he didn't have basketball and coaching knowledge. If Richard had been leading the boos, and/or calling the trick plays you might have something noteworthy. As things stand, however, 'Blame' is just having a bitch over nothing.

@JJ - every club has a plethora of coaches with a massive ego, which is obviously a detriment to basketball, but don't be a drama queen: Forestville is one of the best two undisputed clubs in SA and isn't 'imploding' just because you want it to.

In saying this: Dave Laurie should've been rewarded with the job. That was a mistake, IMO.

This has been the sort of thing that has been a staple of Forestville for some time. And ps, they had 1 lucky year. Have only 2 boys teams in all if div 1 and div 2 that are even in Finals. Both div 2 teams at that.

First of all, in the U16 girls game, the margin required to win was 6 points or more, not five. Had Eastern stolen the ball with those last few seconds and made a three Forestville don't win by enough to claim top spot. Why should a coach be blamed for doing what was necessary to secure a 'perceived' easier run into finals?

Second, it is Under 16 Division 1 basketball not social or Under 10s. There is no reason why Forestville shouldn't be allowed to play out the game to the very last second. Last week when Mavs played Sturt they simply needed to win the game to hold top spot. They won be 30. By the same theory should we not be criticising the Eastern coach for rubbing salt into the wounds then because his team could have just cruised to victory in the last quarter? Or is it different rules for different clubs?

Finally, it's summer season, which is predominantly about finding the best combination of players for each team, and trying to get your team into a good position for State Champs and preparing for winter. Why can't Forestville practice a last-ditch play in what so many call the "silly" season? There may be a future game where this score needs to be made to secure the win.

Fully agree with the above comments about Dickel being responsible. There is no way he could have that much influence over coaches in such a short space of time. At the end of the day, in this particular game the coaches didn't see eye to eye. It's just disappointing for everyone who witnessed the end of the game that there just couldn't be a handshake and a sign of some sportsmanship...

When will the kids come first, the game second and the colours last? I have met so many great people from different teams who's interest is purely in the kids and the game, not the colour they wear. There is nothing wrong with being passionate about your team or club, but it should never be to the detriment of the kids and the game. I am a Forrestville parent and yes some of the behaviour of an absolute minority of the parents is occasionally poor. But they are no different to the absolute minority of parents from all teams. Everyone should pull their heads in and appreciate what we have with our kids and basketball - no matter who they play for. @shame. Will not read anymore of your stuff as it is detrimental to our game. You are either a troll or a disgrace - or both.

Eastern had no problem when the time out was called. He took his players in, grabbed the board and provided his players with final instructions (handy as they had no time outs of their own left). One could assume they were drawing up their own last ditch play to steal the ball, hit the 3 and secure first spot.In no way had they conceded at this point. Eastern players defended the inbound with the same level of passion that the game had been played at all night.

It was only when the foul was called, and 2 shots awarded that Eastern's coach reacted. Perhaps mis-directed frustration at the result, the poor second half performance of his team or even acknowledgement that next week will be a tougher game for them?

If the timeout was really the problem the whole stadium would have heard about it at the time it was called, not after Forestville successfully executed their plan.

What a joke , anyone at the game would be wondering what all this is about . The reaction of he Mavs coach was way over the top but really isn't it all part of the game, a timeout disrespectful - get over it and play the game . I just hope both men can mend any rift in a 20 yr friendship. I just hope the rivalry between the two teams continues because there was some great basketball played by both sides.

that's because 2 clubs have the biggest pools of kids to choose from and until a fair and equitable system is found for the betterment of basketball, so they should have more teams in finals.So don't blow your bags on mathematics.This is typical of the attitude all other clubs see you as. Oh and not to mention that only Sturt and F/ville are allowed to field more than one team in Div 2 where other clubs are not.

plenty of times down by lots up by lots ive called a time out in the last 2 mins advanced the ball for a last effort to scorewhen it came down to it when we actually had to call the time out because there was a couple of points in it the girls knew what to do and how to reactthere arent that many games anymore that are closei have no problem with what the forestville coach did